Nov. 19, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - After a Santa Clara sweep of last year's all-conference individual honors, this year's selections proved to be more inclusive with awards handed to San Francisco, Loyola Marymount, and Gonzaga. The San Francisco men's soccer team took home two individual honors, in addition to six All-WCC team selections after winning the WCC team title for the third time in the last five years. Junior Conor Chinn was awarded WCC Player of the Year honors, marking the second time in three years that a USF player has received the league's top honor, while Head Coach Erik Visser was named WCC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career at San Francisco.

Loyola Marymount walked away with the same amount of awards as San Francisco, one of which was the WCC Freshman of the Year honor given to defender Roger Downes. Downes, an all-freshman team member, also emerged as an All-WCC second team selection for the Lions, garnering him three separate honors in his freshman career. Rounding out the yearly conference honors was Gonzaga junior defender Nick Barclay earning WCC Defensive Player of the Year.

All seven WCC men's soccer teams were represented on the All-WCC first team, with Portland's Collen Warner as the only repeat first team honoree. Santa Clara's Janil Anibaba and Stephen McCarthy were both selected to the All-WCC second team after being named WCC Co-Freshmen of the Year last season. Senior Corey Heldreth from Saint Mary's joined McCarthy as the only two players to receive second team honors for the second straight season.

Every team in the conference also had at least one player named to the all-freshman team. Loyola Marymount had the most selections with three players in Downes, midfielder Artur Jozkowicz, and defender Tyler Krumpe.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Conor Chinn, USF

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Roger Downes, LMU

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nick Barclay, GON

COACH OF THE YEAR
Erik Visser,USF

ALL-WCC FIRST TEAM
Rafael Baca, LMU
Nick Barclay, GON
Kelin Briones, USD
Conor Chinn, USF
Frankie Lopez, POR
Jide Ogunbiyi, SCU
Ryan Peterman, USD
Tye Perdido, GON
Jeff Russell, USF
Yousef Samy, SMC
Collen Warner, POR

ALL-WCC SECOND TEAM
Eddie Ahman, USD
Janil Anibaba, SCU
Bryan Burke, USF
Roger Downes, LMU
Ben Funkhouser, GON
Corey Heldreth, SMC
Jonathan Levi, USF
Stephen McCarthy, SCU
Patrick Sampson, LMU
Brad Stisser, LMU
Leon Williams, USF

ALL-WCC HONORABLE MENTION
Stephen Carlson, LMU; Jason Coehlo, SMC; Jeff Cosgriff, SCU; Jeremy Coupe, USF; Omar Elmasri, USF; Logan Emory, POR; Andrew Feld, USD; Jordan Grider, SMC; Tim Grey, USD; Austin Guerrero, POR; Nick Heinrichs, GON; Bryan Irwin, POR; Ryan Kawulok, POR; Nick Love, GON; Trevor May, USD; Tim Muravez, GON; Vinny Ocampo, LMU; J.D. Penilton, USD; Erik Rivas, SMC; Kellen Wantulok, SCU; Brandon Zimmerman, SCU

WCC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Mitch Boland, GON
Kevin Cook, USD
Roger Downes, LMU
Omar Elmasri, USF
Artur Jozkowicz, LMU
Ryan Kawulok, POR
Tyler Krumpe, LMU
Tom Mohoric, SMC
Stephen Posa, USD
Emmanuel Sarabia, SMC
Brandon Zimmerman, SCU